Arsenal vs West Ham
West Ham boss Graham Potter may be cursing his luck with injuries, but Arsenal face their own selection headache ahead of Saturday’s clash.
Mikel Arteta voiced his frustration over another key injury setback when addressing the press yesterday: “We had a fantastic camp away in Dubai, recharging and connecting with nature, then this unexpected injury to Kai Havertz happened.”
The Gooners injury list is certainly significant but whether it will boost the Hammers chances of victory is another matter: Gabriel, Saliba, White, Tomiyasu, Calafiori, Merino, Ødegaard, Saka, and now Gabriel Jesus, who is out for the season.
If Arteta was concerned about his mounting sick list he certainly wasn’t showing it and remained bullish: “We’ve dealt with so much, played with 10 men multiple times, but we’re still here. Let’s see what we’re made of.”
With Jesus side-lined, Arsenal’s attacking depth is stretched thin which could see Dinos Mavropanos breath a sign of relief before facing his former club. Leandro Trossard could be a choice up front, but cover is sparse for Arteta and may require some more creative thinking, just like Potter had to do when he joined West Ham.
Ethan Nwaneri could step in centrally, though Saka’s absence may see him deployed on the right. Mikel Merino bagged a brace against Leicester at the weekend but when asked, the Spaniard said he didn’t expect to start up front against The Hammers.
Some pundits are beginning to suggest that West Ham could be playing Arsenal at at good time due to their injury crisis but I’m not so sure. They remain formidable opponents and The Irons last outing against Brentford was possibly the worst showing of Graham Potter’s short stint as Julen Lopetegui’s successor.
That said, stranger things have happened and it would be very West Ham to lose against Brentford at home but go to the Emirates and beat Arsenal on their home turf.
Arsenal are nothing without Odegard and Sakha. Easy win for us I’d say.
Looks like Graham has further unwelcome injury news. Worrying reports in today’s Evening Standard that Lucas Paqueta had to withdraw from training today after injuring his ankle and the Brazilian “appeared devastated” at this new blow. He only made his return last Saturday. The Standard report it remains unclear how severe the injury is and he will now be assessed by the club’s medical staff. I’m sure everyone will be keeping their fingers crossed that the latest knock is nothing serious.
Coufal could also be forced to miss the Arsenal game after suffering a hamstring injury before the Brentford match. Hopefully Graham will have some better news at this week’s press conference.
We clutch at so many straws we should go into the thatched roof business
Clutching at straws again.